The Porta Nuova Palace, adjacent to the historic building of the University of Sassari and recently restored, fits into the complex historical-urban stratification of the city. It is located along the 13th-14th century wall circuit, at the ancient Munition Tower, where the newest of the city gates was opened in 1614.
Indeed, the development of the University (founded in 1562) had intensified the interest and movement of people and activities in this area. We know what the area looks like from some maps and 19th-century drawings by Giuseppe Cominotti and Alfonso Garovaglio. Following the demolition of the walls, and the gate itself, around 1874, the City Council, which owned the area, built the large palace, separated from the university building by a closed alley. The narrow alley had previously been used by the University for the accommodation of science laboratories pertaining to the teaching of chemistry. The small corner garden between the Porta Nuova and University Buildings, overlooking the Public Gardens, was fenced off by the University in 1888 at the initiative of Prof. Augusto Corona, the holder of the teaching and laboratory of Physiology.
The Palazzo di Porta Nuova, after an initial use as the seat of the Court of Appeals (1881) served mainly as an educational institution, initially as an elementary school and from 1923 as the first seat of the city’s scientific high school named after Giovanni Spano. It was later home to municipal offices, particularly Technical and Maintenance, passing to the University, by exchange, in 1999.
